I have been doing a lot of surfing around the Ravelry forums. My God what a time sink that is. I've been on Rav for nearly a year and am just now getting to use it with any regularity. I still don't understand the difference between my Favorites and my Queue, and I don't have my stash up there (mostly because I am embarrassed by how crappy it is way too much plastic in there) but it's a valuable resource. I made a half serious post on the beginning lace knitters board about my nervousness at doing Kitchener stitch and ended up getting some real good and helpful replies.

I am still working on the shawl but plan to put in some work on the sweater today. I am avoiding it because I have to frog back a couple of rows on the sleeve I'm working on as I missed an important decrease on it. I hate to frog cables!

This afternoon I have some work to do for Meals on Wheels. I've been a volunteer for nearly a year now and was recently asked to do some administrative work for them. Meals on Wheels is a very satisfying project to be involved in, people really appreciate what you do and it doesn't take too much time at all. I really believe in doing community service and this fits into my schedule very well.

Went to see DS yesterday. We had a great time, except for the dinner. One mistake after another and we had to wait for a real long time for a table. We're not going back there any time soon which is a shame because the food was plentiful and good.

We spent most of the day shopping. DS and DD needed clothes and there is no tax on clothing in Pennsylvania making visits to DS an ideal time to buy. I need some stuff too but didn't get anything. We were in Kohl's at one point and I suppose I could have found something there to fit, but I just wasn't in the mood. Now if there had been a Coldwater Creek store then I'd have made the effort to look. I love Coldwater Creek.

Making steady progress on the shawl. I found that I had to put in lots of stitch markers, one for each repeat to keep track of the pattern. I reccomend that technique to anyone trying to do lace. It makes it easier to follow the pattern and also makes it easier to find mistakes when and if they occur. I've not done much work on anything else since I started the shawl, it's a very absorbing project.

Some Success!

I am cautiously claiming some success with the shawl. I had frogged it back to the beginning (yet again) and was able to get past the point where I nearly flung the thing out the window last week. A few more rows and I'll put in a life line. Pictures to follow as soon as I have enough on the needles to make it worthwhile. I have not picked up the socks again quite yet. One pain in the neck at a time.

I've been playing around with Twitter and after making fun of people who use it have found that it's really a lot of fun. If you want to follow me you can find me as eileendoreen on Twitter. If you are up on Twitter and know of anything I should be following and am not, let me know.

Arrrrgggghhhh!

OK it's official the knitting gods are out to get me. Thought I'd pick up DD's socks and work on them as an antidote to the shawl, no sooner to I do that than I drop a bunch of stitches (they worked their way off of one of the needles when I wasn't paying attention) and I had to frog back a bunch to fix it (it was easier than picking up the stitches) I just can't win.

Ever have one of those days when you want to throw your knitting out the nearest window? I'm feeling like that right now. Since yesterday I've been making attempts at my new lace project and keep making mistakes. I've not even gotten to the point where a lifeline would make sense. God I'm frustrated!

DS is home for the weekend and happily settled in the den watching bad Japanese cartoons. (anime is a passion of his) It's always good to have him home. I really miss him when he's at school.

I got some knitting in on the way to and from picking him up and made good progress on DD's socks as a result. This is a feat as I have had to frog this particular sock Lord knows how many times. (these are the socks I was going to do on two circs but gave up and went back to my tired and true dpn's) I might go with DS to my favorite LYS and pick out yarn for a sweater for him. He's been asking me to make him one and as I am up to the sleeve on my aran sweater it's a good time to start it. I plan to make the Leo sweater from Knitty. It's simple as he requested but has enough interest in the pattern to keep me from going crazy. I have to make it from an easy to care for yarn, something superwash. DS goes to a boarding school for special needs kids and does his own laundry. Asking him to hand wash something just is not in the cards. I'm sure that I can find something at the LYS. Don't know if we have the time to go this weekend though, it can always wait until April when he will be in for a week for the Passover/Easter break.